Why Culture Is One of the Most Important Drivers of Business Performance

By Craig Leyers, CEO, StableDry

When people talk about business performance, they usually start with revenue, margins, hiring, or growth. Those things all matter. But in my experience, one of the most important drivers behind all of them is culture. Not culture as a slogan or a poster on the wall, but culture as the way a company actually operates every day.

I’ve spent more than 30 years leading teams across telecommunications and home services, and one lesson has stayed consistent: if you take care of your people, they take care of your customers, and when customers feel seen and heard, the business tends to perform well. That idea is simple, but it has real operating implications. It affects how you lead, how you communicate, how you hire, and how you grow.

At StableDry, we talk a lot about being an employer of choice. To me, that means creating an environment where people want to be there, where they feel supported, where they understand how they fit into the bigger picture, and where they believe they have an opportunity to grow. We put a strong emphasis on developing leaders from within because culture gets stronger when the people stepping into leadership already understand the values and behaviors that made the business successful in the first place.

One of the biggest pieces of that culture is transparency. I believe people perform better when they understand the score. That is why we share key metrics across the organization and make performance visible. We want people to know where we are winning, where we need to improve, and how their work contributes to the overall outcome. We once set a goal that 20 percent of completed jobs should result in a review. At first, some people thought that target was unrealistic. But once the goal was visible to everyone, teams started learning from one another, and we eventually exceeded it. That mattered because reviews influence reputation, lead flow, and revenue. Transparency did not just improve awareness; it improved results.

Culture also has a direct impact on recruiting. In a strong organization, recruiting does not sit only with HR. It becomes everyone’s responsibility. When people are proud of where they work, they are more willing to refer others, and those referrals are often your best hires. I saw that clearly after an acquisition. Rather than coming in with a top-down mindset, we spent time in the field, worked alongside people, and focused on building trust first. Once that happened, recruiting picked up quickly. Within a week, we hired five people, including two through employee referrals. That kind of response only happens when employees believe in the direction of the business and feel good about bringing others into it.

A healthy culture also changes productivity. In a disengaged environment, managers have to push constantly. In a strong culture, people take initiative. They look for ways to help. They coordinate across teams. They solve problems faster because they care about the outcome, not just the task in front of them. That kind of ownership creates a more responsive business, and when you scale that across an organization, the operational impact is significant.

Another thing I’ve learned is that some of the best ideas come from the people closest to the work. That is why we actively ask employees what we should start, stop, and continue doing. We review that feedback regularly and use it to improve how we operate. I also try to stay accessible. I want people to be able to raise a question, share a concern, or offer an idea without feeling like there are layers in the way. When employees see that their voice matters and that leadership is listening, they become more engaged in helping shape the future of the business.

Culture becomes especially important during change. Growth, acquisitions, and integration all put pressure on an organization. Those moments reveal very quickly whether your culture is real. In our business, culture plays a major role in acquisitions because sellers are not only evaluating financial terms. They also care about what will happen to their people. When you can demonstrate a strong, people-focused culture, it creates trust and gives you an advantage both before and after the deal closes.

For me, culture is not separate from business performance. It is one of the clearest drivers of it. It improves recruiting, productivity, accountability, innovation, retention, and customer experience. Most importantly, it creates alignment. When people understand the mission, trust leadership, and feel part of something bigger than their individual role, the company moves faster and performs better. That is when culture stops being a talking point and becomes a real competitive advantage.

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